Thanks so much for looking. Be sure to leave a comment, if you think it would encourage my heart.

Sunday, November 2, 2008

Stuff For Sale

Yard sales have always been a past time of mine. I love to shop them and host them. There is just something starkly different about a yard sale and an estate sale in my mind. One says, “I have too much stuff and need to get rid of some things!” The other says, “Someone has passed away and here is all the stuff they left behind.” Estate sales manufacture forlornness in my heart. I enter with a sense of sorrow for the ones who are left behind and wonder what they must be thinking and feeling. It usually astounds me at what one can purchase at these sales. Often times there are jewelry items, pots and pans, brooms, silverware, chairs, couches, clothes, purses, scarves, linens, clocks, radios, tables, picture frames, half-empty shampoo bottles, toilet tissue, family pictures, children’s Brownie uniforms from days gone by, and even projects created by much younger hands. It leaves me stunned that someone’s whole life can just be sold to a stranger willing to pay the price listed.Most yard sale perusing can be done in 15 minutes or less. Estate sales require more time of me. Thinking about each item, wondering who played with this and where they are now, and imagining what has happened over a person’s lifetime are intriguing and time consuming. Generally, I walk away with more questions than items purchased. Sometimes belongings are tear-stained after I leave, but still there just the same. I have purchased items at both types of sales. The things I have attained from estate sales are far more precious to me. I know it is crazy, but that is the way it is.Once, I bought a dining room table and chairs. Sad to say, but I sold that in a yard sale of my own. Among my estate sale treasures are a navy box purse, an off-white, beaded box purse, a flowered change purse, and a wedding ring set. I purchased the flowered change purse for twenty-five cents. Months later I discovered a “secret compartment” in the coin purse. When I unzipped it, I found a penny, an empty safety pin, and a safety pin with two rings attached to it. After staring at and examining them for quite some time, I decided they must be real. They were just too stunning not to be. My twenty-five cent steal turned out to be worth $1,800. Pretty good find if you ask me. I have wondered several times since then about who, what, when, where, and how, but that is another blog!